A malnourished orphan was brought to the Child Center by his grandmother. He was 1 year old and only weighed 5 kilos; which is 11 pounds. The child had the saggy baggy elephant type skin on his arms and legs. He was weak and had that tiny cat sounding cry that malnourished children have. His father also came with the grandmother. The mother died 3 months ago and they say the child keeps losing weight. We explained that a child of this age grieves for their mother even though they do not have the words to say it out loud. We encouraged the grandmother to offer food many times a day. The grandmother also uses enemas on the child every day so that the child will sleep. We explained that the child was sleeping because he was exhausted and the enemas were pulling everything out of his body. We gave them weaning mix, PPP (peanut butter with sugar and powdered milk) and oil. If the grandmother will do what we ask her to do the child will brighten up and start putting on weight.
The carpenters came this morning and started working on the roof. They got the ridge pole and all the rafters set today. They should be done in a couple days. The building is looking better every day.
Red came this afternoon. He has been working on the big grinding wheel that is in the front yard. It has never had a handle since we have been here. It annoys me that it cannot be easily turned because Nazo likes to use it to sharpen his cutlass and I am afraid that he will make a flat spot on the wheel which will affect the way it rolls and sharpens. The handle Red made looks good and it works great. The wheel is about 3 feet across. Red said that he was with my dad when he bought it. He bought it from the cotton gin in Tamale. I can only imagine what a time they had of loading that “beast”. We have seen the men move amazing things with just brute force and large numbers of men!
Papa Zachariah is feeling better but he has not yet come back to work since his bout with high blood pressure and dizziness. Maybe he will feel well enough to come back tonight. We sure would hate for him to come back too early and fall down and break something!
Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep. There is no daylight saving time in Ghana. People work from sunup to sundown and no one really cares what time it is.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
